Former Strictly star Chizzy Adukolu opens up on why it's more important than ever to talk about race
It's Black History Month
Last updated 23rd Oct 2020
She’s a regular face on the Loose Women panel and now actress Chizzy Adukolu has another regular slot on our screens – this time as one of two team captains on ITV’s four-part panel show Sorry, I Didn’t Know, which marks Black History Month in the UK.
Chizzy – whose full name is Chizoba but was given the nickname by her uncle when she was younger – explains to our friends at Closer why now, more than ever, the achievements of Black people need to be celebrated.
She says, “It’s all part of our history, and there have been amazing accomplishments from Black people in this country that we just don’t hear about, and I think we should. It’s great to celebrate when we’re doing amazing things. There’s so much that Black people have contributed to this country that people don’t know about – myself included.”
Chizzy, who is 47-years-old, was born in North West London in 1973 to Nigerian parents, who moved to the UK in the ’60s. She says she recalls being the subject of racial abuse when the family moved to Hertfordshire in 1983.
“We were the only Black people around. There was a little mob that congregated outside. I remember my aunt having to go outside and speak to someone because they weren’t happy with us being there. We actually got called the ‘P’ word and we were also called the ‘N’ word, and that does stay with you. They are just a faceless person in a way, but you know how it felt at the time,” she reveals.
The star, who has three sisters, two brothers and five nieces, says Black women have to work “twice as hard” to get heard.
“I find that when a Black woman has something to say and she gets passionate or emotional about it, she is called ‘aggressive’, whereas when a white woman does it, she is described as ‘passionate’,” Chizzy says.
The actress first hit our screens in BBC sitcom 15 Storeys High in 2002. She then had a small role in EastEnders and starred in a few children’s shows on BBC before being cast as surgeon Mo Effanga in Holby City in 2012 until 2017. Later that year, she appeared as a contestant on Strictly with professional Pasha Kovalev, but was voted out in week one.
During that time, Chizzy’s ex-husband, computer engineer Henry Anang, claimed she had “sacrificed” their marriage in 2000 to find success as an actress, but added they’d had a “beautiful” relationship.
On the subject of dating, Chizzy is all for interracial relationships. “It wouldn’t bother me in the slightest,” she says. “My brother got married last year to a lovely girl from Slovakia, and she’s adorable. All I care about is if you are going to treat my family well – it doesn’t matter what colour you are. I’ve dated outside and within my race and I don’t see any problem with it whatsoever. I think mixed-raced cultures are wonderful.”
Chizzy feels everyone in Britain should be educated about Black people’s contribution to their country, but says she disagrees with Prince Harry’s recent claim that London isn’t as diverse as he had initially thought.
“I’ve always seen London as a real melting pot, and I’ve always found it very multicultural. I really like Harry and Meghan, but I don’t think Harry has really walked around the streets of London to be able to say that. I don’t want to dis (respect) him, but I don’t agree with that.
“I just hope that if we can all learn more about Black people’s contribution, and that we’ve been in Britain for a lot longer than people think, we might be a bit more tolerant. I think children in schools need to know that they are valued, and that they’ve come from greatness too – it all helps.”
Chizzy Akudolu hosts ITV’s Sorry, I Didn’t Know, as part of Black History Month
Take a look at some Black History Month Influencers from around the country:
Black History Month 2020: Influencers
We celebrate some of the faces, voices and influencers sharing their experience of what Black History Month means to them.
Coral Boston
Coral Boston is an Infection Control Nurse at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust who was re-enlisted to the frontline to help in the fight against Covid-19.
"Many years ago, I was racially abused. It hurts. It hurts and it's like – how can I describe it? It's like being cut with a knife. The person that's abused you can go away, and they can go to bed and sleep and not even think about it. But the person they've attacked, that stays with them for weeks and sometimes even months."
"The privilege that people have as a white person is powerful and something that I would love. Their privilege is just being white. For us, we don't have that privilege and that's why we need help; we need help so we can make it better for future generations."
"There are patients in the beds that need our care. As a black woman, and as someone who's passion is nursing, I knew that I had to get on and do the job."
Clarke Carlisle
Clarke Carlisle is a former professional footballer, and former Chair of the Professional Footballer's Association. Since retiring from the game he has spoken openly about his battles against depression and suicidal thoughts and is now a public speaker, alongside wife Carrie.
"We have five children, and my 12-year-old son is a bigger activist than I've ever been in my life. He's amazing, he's so in-tune, I'm so proud of him. I feel pangs of shame about how reluctant I've been in my life to be vociferous on this issue, but it also fills me with pride that he feels able to voice his opinion on this matter, and he feels like they will be heard, that it's an opinion that matters.
It's amazing, it's emotional, and the emotions change with it every year, and this year it's my 12-year-old son who's brought a different dynamic to it. He's far more interested in our heritage than I've ever been in my life: What actually happened in the Windrush? What happened before the Windrush? I'm still dealing with it in therapy - what were the nuts and bolts of my grandad coming over, and the impact it had on him, the conflict with his original heritage? My son seems to be free of that."
Clarke and Carrie Carlisle's mental health platform can be found at www.clarkeandcarriesplace.com
Graham Campbell
Councillor Graham Campbell is Glasgow's first African Caribbean councillor and hopes to become Scotland's first Black MSP. He is bidding to become the SNP's candidate for Edinburgh West at next year's Holyrood election.
"I get asked a lot about Black subject matters, but I don't get asked to do interviews on politics, economics, housing… I don't get asked about mainstream policy stuff.
"I want to get to the stage where I'm asked as a politician, who had votes in three budgets, who is active the community… who is on the education committee about things like schooling. It would be nice if I was asked about the policy areas I'm responsible for.
"When we get to that stage, that's when we will know we've made real progress."
Kim Johnson MP
Kim Johnson is the Member of Parliament for Liverpool Riverside, and was elected as the city's first black MP in 2019. She was born and raised in the Toxteth area of the city, and previously worked as a shop steward for the Unison union.
"I'm very proud to have been elected, but it's sad that it's taken so long for Liverpool to have a black MP, especially as it has the oldest black community in Europe.
"Arriving in Westminster was an eye-opener, it's been a learning curve. Racism is something I have encountered here, but it's something I have experienced all my life. It's part and parcel of life as a black person. There are things that need to change here. It's not very diverse.
"Black history is all history, and it needs to be integral to everything that happens in our society. I'm a firm believer in changing the narrative. It's not changed enough in our school's curriculum in the last 60 years."
Leon Mundell
Leon Mundell MBE is a long-time care charity worker who, when the Coronavirus pandemic hit, personally took over the provision of the African Caribbean Care Group across Manchester, Trafford, Salford and Stockport.
Over the last few months, he's been providing home cooked meals for the socially isolated and the shielding, he's helped with gardening, cooking and shopping for those who'd otherwise struggle to access support.
"My mother did things like this before she passed away so I'm just following the tradition really.
When I go to people's homes and knock on their doors - you want to see how fast they open them - they're so glad to see me; their faces light up. I like to see people smile. I like to see people happy. I sing a little song or tell a little joke to cheer them up.
When I visit them, I can't really go too close - I want to give them a hug or shake their hand - but I can't.
They understand when I explain the situation and I hope the community understands and appreciates what I've been doing."
Find out more about Leon's work here
Yazmin Nicette
Yazmin Nicette is Operations Lead at Young Gloucestershire, a charity dedicated to helping disadvantaged young people. Since the death of George Floyd in May, Yaz has been helping young people and staff learn about racism and racial equality in a safe space. Listening to music, watching documentaries and holding weekly discussions are just some of the ways she helps people engage and learn about the issue.
"Before we engage with young people, I think the education needs to work with the people that are trying to make the conversations happen. So, as an organisation, we've identified a lot of the things that we need to do better in. We've created sub-groups in-house that allow us to educate staff, to have free and open discussions which allow people to not be afraid to say the wrong thing – but in fact to learn".
"Rather than throwing it all at them and say 'you need to learn this history, and you need to learn that', we implement in subtly so it should just be an everyday thing. Rather than it being a subject of its own, it should be in the delivery of everything we do."
Isaac Eloi
Isaac Eloi is a solicitor from Bradford who set up the Black Men in Law Network in 2018.
"I set up the Black Men in Law network after realising how under-represented black men are in law and how important it is for us to support each other. As a black lawyer you feel like you have to work ten times harder than your white counterparts just to prove yourself.
In terms of engagement, it's been fantastic. We've seen an increase in diversity across the board but there's still more to do. We just hope that we keep the pressure on people to say "it's great" and we're happy to do the work, but ultimately this is being done because not enough is being done in the profession at large.
The firms that have the power and resources to make these changes, we're hoping they do step up and acknowledge the issues that specifically affect black lawyers."
You can find the link to the Black Men in Law Network Twitter page and link to register.
Akeim Mundell
Akeim Mundell BEM has been an active community worker since the age of 13 when he lost a close friend to gun crime in Manchester. He decided to turn the tragedy into an opportunity for change and began hosting events for under 18s, partnering with organisations like the police, and hosting an online job page for the BAME community in Moss Side. Still only 26, he has multiple awards under his belt for his community work, not least a British Empire Medal - awarded in 2016.
"One of the projects I'm most proud of is the Manchester Job Opportunities page which I launched in 2014 as part of my role as ambassador for Moss Side. I wanted to make sure that our community members were accessing all the opportunities available.
"Every evening I dedicated 3 hours to posting jobs to the page. We now have 40,000 members on the group and to date 650 individuals have gained full time employment from it."
Find out more about Akeim and his work here
Ade Aibinu
Glasgow City Councillor Ade Aibinu, who is originally from Nigeria, is standing for the Scottish Conservatives. He would like to see Black and BAME candidates elected in every party.
"You can end up in a situation where you do a disservice to the Black community by saying we all think alike. We obviously don't all think alike. So, I think much more than just having a Black MSP or a BAME MSP I would like to see Black candidates with different views because that provides balance.
"The key thing is having a political party that supports us and having local activists who will go out and support us and I really do think we will be in a situation next year where we have Black representation at the Scottish Parliament and that will make life much easier."
Cheryl Martin
Cheryl Martin is a performance artist, director and writer who was born in Washington DC, but has lived in Manchester for the last 25 years. She is a champion for Black voices in the arts, running festivals and literature groups for others to break into the industry.
"A lot of black, brown, East Asian people, we keep going by ignoring little incidents of everyday racism because if you stopped and tried to fix every single one of them, you'd never be able to think about anything else. So we ignore it.
"Now, learning what my parents were dealing with on my behalf, I felt awful. So it's me coming to terms with that. It makes me emotional thinking about it.
"All that stuff you see from the States with the signs and the 'can't use this water fountain' and 'can't go the restaurant', my parents grew up with that – until they were 30.
"They tell us almost nothing about what went on then because they don't want us to grow up with the burden of thinking about that.
"Growing diverse and British, there's still a lot parents are trying to do for their children. You've got to have your kids believe things are going to be fair and then you've got to make sure they really are."
"I think it's really important for children and everybody else to see it's possible for a Black person to be an artist."
Paul Philbert
Paul Philbert is a timpanist with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Chineke! - Europe's first majority Black and Minority Ethnic orchestra .
"For many years, I'd been caught up in performing, and have been very lucky to have gotten as far as I have. I've had a couple of conversations with colleagues who have spoken of racism in this business, and the barriers that it has put up. So, I feel particularly fortunate to have made it this far. I do think things are changing, but that change is still very much in its infancy. But, I have had more conversations about all of that this year than ever before in my life.
It is ultimately my hope, and I think it should be the hope of everyone, that we meet a place, as a society, where we no longer require a Black History Month; because, by then, we are of the position, the understanding, the awareness, and our level of education is of such that it will negate the necessity to have the spotlight placed on it just once a year, and instead, every day is a Human History Day."
Paul is presenting a series of shows on our sister station Scala Radio throughout the month of October.
Anna Rothery
Cllr Anna Rothery is Liverpool's first black Lord Mayor. Born and still living in the Princes Park area of the city, she became a councillor for the ward in 2006. In 2019 she was elected as Lord Mayor, and has just secured a second term in the role.
"It saddens me that it has taken all this time to appoint a black Lord Mayor, but I'm almost certain I won't be the last. Liverpool is going through a radical change, and is facing up to its historical past, and more importantly working to eradicate racism and discrimination.
It's not been an easy journey. I am no stranger to discrimination. But the journey has taken me to a place where I can understand the needs of all communities.
The city has never done as much as we should have done historically, but I believe we have turned a corner now. There is definitely an appetite for change."
Emma Conally- Barklem
Emma Conally- Barklem is a BWY Teacher, Holistic Therapist and Writer
"As a mixed-race British woman with dual heritage in both Yorkshire and Jamaica; I know that people rarely fit in to one box and experiences aren't blandly homogeneous.
Growing up I danced around to Duran Duran with my mum and to dance hall ska with my dad. My dad introduced me to Elvis and my mum liked garage music.
My dad frequented the Polish club and I ate samosas at our Pakistani neighbour's house and learned Bollywood dances.
I learned from a young age about different races and cultures because they were part of my everyday life.
Now, I am engaged to a Hungarian woman, both of us first and third generation immigrants respectively. I watch her cooking and bickering with my dad in the kitchen. I too learn traditional Hungarian dishes with her mum and bicker with the family in the kitchen. Some things are universal. Surely all our histories should be heard?'"
Find out more about Emma here and read her contributions to Spirit and Destiny Magazine here
Sylvester Herman
Sylvester Herman is a former soldier turned distiller and has turned a secret family rum recipe into a booming business.
Originally from St Lucia, he set up his company Island Slice Rum in Glasgow in 2015 after leaving the military and meeting his wife, who is Scottish. It is now stocked in shops and sold internationally.
"It feels good, because everything is built from the ground up by my hands, everything here... I'm connected to it from the sauce all the way to the bottle.
"When I left the military I could have done what every other soldier of African descent does and do the move to Birmingham or the move to London. But my philosophy on that from back then was I cannot follow the ship.
"I moved somewhere completely different and just followed my dreams. I followed my ambitions and follow everything I need. I knew I could achieve the world. The opportunities were only there because I chose not to follow the ship. I choose to do something different. I decided to shake a different tree."
Find our more about Sylvester and his rum here
Etienne Kubwabo
Etienne is a filmmaker and DJ, who moved to Glasgow ten years ago from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and is the creator of Scotland's first Black superhero.
Comic book 'Beats of War' stars DJ ET, who comes to Earth to find a way to save his home planet from robot invaders and in the process discovers music. The comic looks at the barriers faced by people who move to a new country.
"I have experienced racism (in Scotland), for example, going in a shop and being followed because the owner is worried I won't have the money to pay for these things, I've been stopped by the police, stones have been thrown at my family home.
"But also, I've experienced love and how Glasgow is really welcoming. I've made so many amazing friends here and have had lots of positive experiences.
"You've got to take the good with the bad and Glasgow is no different. You see both sides.
"If you look at Batman and you see Gotham City, you're thinking of New York City. I want that to be the same thing with this comic book. I want people to read it and start seeing it in animation films and know that this is our city. This is where it's happening."
Find out more about DJ ET's adventures here
Sam Pearce-Kearney
Councillor Sam Pearce-Kearney has several roles to promote diversity in the Wiltshire community. He gives talks to local schoolchildren about representation and inclusion, as part of the West Wiltshire Multi-Faith Forum.
As Deputy Chair of Wiltshire Police's BAME Independent Advisory Group, he advises the force about employing more black officers. He's also a Town Councillor in Calne
"If we want to get society to move on from this idea of segregation, which we used to have, we need to really ensure that every child from a young age is exposed to it (diversity). Because if you're exposed to something, you learn that it's a part of you - it's a part of your society and it's just normal.
"(I want to see) more black people feeling more comfortable, as they go about their daily lives.
"It's getting better. But I guess we can only make it better if we really try - all of us hard together".
Hear more from Sam by watching this interview
John Ferguson
John Ferguson was the first Black staff photographer to work for a national newspaper, covering stories from Hurricane Katrina to the conflict in the Middle East. John has since used his experience and reputation to challenge social, economic and cultural inequality, poverty and injustice.
"It was unusual to see a black guy with a camera in those days, and to tell you the truth, I wasn't particularly any good at taking the right pictures, but you learn fast, and I did. I had to photograph one of the many 'Doctor Who' characters for a feature story when I worked on the Daily Mirror, his first words to me were 'Oh I didn't know there were black photographers, you must be good then?'
"The advice I can give to any young creative is to follow their passion, have goals and try and stick to them, it's not the easiest profession to make money from, but great opportunities are certainly out there, and more than when I first started."
To mark Black History Month John is exhibiting his Black Britannia collection in Ipswich, Suffolk. Details here
Nadia Kanyange
Nadia Kanyange moved to Glasgow after leaving Burundi as a refugee.
Nadia fought deportation by the Home Office to deport her and wants to shine a light on social justice in Scotland and challenge perceptions about asylum and race. She's hoping to stand for election in next year's Holyrood election for the Green party.
"I could see there was a lack of Black representation at Holyrood. I didn't necessarily think I'd be in a position to do anything about it, but an opportunity came about as I'm a member of the Scottish Green Party and I decided to put myself forward.
"Society in Scotland is changing. It really is changing. There are a number of different ethnicities living in Scotland now and also looking at everything that's going on around the world – that's a result of everything that went wrong in the past.
"When I was an asylum seeker, I wish there had been someone in Parliament to stand up for me."
Jermaine Atiya-Alla
Torbay councillor Jermaine Atiya-Alla is the only black councillor to be elected in Torbay, securing a seat in 2019. He was instrumental in securing the first ever review into local racism and what action could be taken locally - and now chairs the group.
"I think since Covid and the killing of George Floyd it has really brought to the fore the many challenges that people from BAME communities face and we can no longer be ignored. The prejudice that I have found is some people may not speak to you because of your colour. There is casual racism and people who might call people racist names - but don't actually realise the effect it has on people.
"I'm fairly thick skinned so I'm able to deal with it. I remember going to secondary school, maybe 20 odd years ago, there was name calling or people would act a little bit violent towards you because they don't like blacks. There needs to be more education, more needs to be done in schools in terms of teaching people about racism - and the effects of racism. I had someone who wrote to me, they were a local teacher in a school. They were telling me about a story where they had to exclude a six year old child for basically saying racist words - which they learnt from their parents."
Listen to Jermaine talk about his BAME review in Torbay here
Marcus Rashford
Marcus is a professional footballer for England and Manchester United.
So far in 2020 he's convinced the government to continue free school meals for children throughout the COVID19 pandemic and is helping to set up a Child Food Poverty Task Force. His efforts have earned him an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.
"Me and the team behind me are just trying to find how we can help these children for the rest of their childhood; to find long-term answers to the problem. It's been a long journey, but I think the first phase was probably the hardest bit, which was learning and self-teaching who were the right people to get in contact with to help these children. This is obviously a huge honour, and for me I just hope it encourages and promotes other players to do things to help as much as they can. I'm very happy, and I'll definitely continue to do my best to help people.''
Michelle Campbell
Councillor Michelle Campbell's hoping to become one of Scotland's first Black MSPs – and could be the first woman of colour elected to Holyrood, if successful. She's also participating in the Pass The Mic campaign, pushing for women of colour to make headway in the media and is a mental health nurse, who returned to the NHS to help during the pandemic.
"For me it's not about being the first woman of colour elected. It has to go beyond my colour. I am a strong person and people need to stop looking at just my colour and preventing me from having that input.
"We can be great community leaders, offer so much to inward communities but how do we help people turn outwards to allow everyone to reap the benefits of that representation? That's what I'm championing within the party and want to do with my representation."
Sandra Kerr
Sandra Kerr CBE is Race Director for influential Business Group Business in the Community. Prior to taking the role there she worked for the Cabinet Office and Department for Work and Pensions. She is calling on the Government to bring forward plans to make Ethnic pay gap reporting mandatory for large UK companies.
"Gender pay gap reporting didn't just morph into ethnicity pay gap reporting. They spearheaded the consultation and said that 'We're ready to act if employers didn't act voluntarily' and yet they haven't done so.
"The time for action is now because that consultation closed in January 2019, we had meetings throughout the year and now we're into 2020 and this years almost finished.
"Just like gender pay gap reporting isn't a silver bullet that fixes everything, neither does this, but what it does is get the conversation at the top table where it needs to be."
Clinton Smith
Clinton Smith is the chair of Preston Black History Group. He started working at a local prison as a civilian maintenance operative and quickly got involved in diversity and equality within the prison delivering diversity training to staff and prisoners. He was instrumental within the service for setting up an African and Caribbean Prisoners' Group and in 2011 he was a finalist in the National Prison Officer of the Year Award and has received numerous awards for his work.
"Do we continue living this untruth? Do we keep continuing to fool ourselves and deny what really was, because if you believe in truth, in justice, in right and wrong, then it is important that these facts are put on the table.
"Black history's an integral part of world history, but it seems that we are terrified of talking about slavery because, yes, it does bring some painful memories, but you have to walk these painful journeys to get onto a level playing field.
"What I'm asking everyone to do is to help me work towards achieving a world where my offspring and their offspring will walk together without being disadvantaged because of the tone, the colour and the texture of their skin."
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